“I am 41 years old. I have played more than 1500 matches over 24 years. Tennis has treated me more generously than I ever would have dreamt, and now I must recognize
Chris Kirk speaks to CNN after first PGA Tour win in 8 years
American golfer Chris Kirk had won four times on the PGA Tour, but in 2019, he stepped away to deal with his crippling depression and alcohol abuse issues. Last Sunday, he won a playoff at the Honda Classic in Florida and told CNN about his extraordinary journey.
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In 2013, a 14-year-old Alex Fitzpatrick caddied his older brother Matt to victory at the US Amateur Championship in Brookline, a win that secured the champion an exemption for the following year’s US Open.
The rest is history: Matt Fizpatrick would return to the same site in 2022 to clinch the major, announcing his arrival as England’s premier golfing talent.
Now, the world No. 8 has the chance to return a favor to his younger sibling.
On Thursday, the Fitzpatrick brothers will pair for the Zurich Classic of New Orleans, a PGA Tour event that will see 80 two-player teams battle it out at TPC Louisiana for a split of the $2,398,000 winner’s purse.
The triumphant pair on Sunday will also receive a two-year exemption on the PGA Tour. Though not a motivation for the field’s elite names like Fitzpatrick, for his 24-year-old younger brother – ranked 705th in the world and forging his path on the Challenge Tour – it could be life-changing.
“That would be incredible for him, there’s no doubt about that,” Fitzpatrick told CNN Sport’s Don Riddell.
“We know what’s at stake and we know what possibilities there are if he does well and, hopefully, we can do that.”
A few months after Fitzpatrick’s dramatic US Open triumph, he found himself pitted in the same field as his younger sibling at the Italian Open in Rome.
After the second round, the junior Fitzpatrick led the major champion in average driving distance by 0.36 yards – a slender gap, yes, but enough to warrant a jab via text. The reply – shared via Fitzpatrick’s Instagram – showed a screenshot of the US Open winner’s name atop the leaderboard, with his brother’s tied-18th position included for good measure.
Yet beneath the cheap shots, it’s all brotherly love, and the pair gel well on the course despite contrasting styles.
“Our games are pretty opposite,” the elder Fitzpatrick said. “I’m a good driver, he’s a good iron player. He’s a good short game and I’m a good putter.
“He wants to do as well as he can, of course he does, but for me his path is probably going to be a little bit different than mine. The golf world is very different from when I started to when he’s playing now so he’s going to focus on the Challenge Tour probably, he’s excited for that.
“Hopefully, he can follow in my footsteps.”
Matt Fitzpatrick’s perfect day? Tuna & Augusta
They will be some tough footsteps to follow.
Triumph at the RBC Heritage on Sunday, sealed with a dramatic playoff win over three-time major champion Jordan Spieth, penned the latest glorious chapter in what has been an outstanding few years for Fitzpatrick.
The fact that the victory came at Hilton Head, a long-time holiday destination for the family from Sheffield, made it even more special, as the 28-year-old realized a childhood dream of lifting silverware on the Harbour Town course.
“Moments like that, you wish time travel was real and you could go back and say, ‘This is what’s going happen in a few years,’” he said.
“I would have been amazed, it was always one that I wanted to win and it was very special to do it.”
And as if winning couldn’t have been any sweeter, it arrived in the face of overwhelmingly one-sided crowd support for home hero Spieth, with ‘U-S-A’ chants soundtracking much of the deciding playoff holes.
Spieth gestured to fans for quiet, but Fitzpatrick relished his leading role as a villain.
“It was great … I definitely enjoyed being in it,” he said.
“I wouldn’t say I’ve played in that atmosphere too often, but it’s certainly nice to perform under that pressure and I think that’s what made it mean so much as well.”
Fitzpatrick is looking forward to a role reversal of crowd bias when Italy hosts the Ryder Cup for the first time in September.
Rome’s Marco Simone Golf and Country Club will be the stage for what Team Europe hopes will be a decisive rebound after a bruising defeat at the hands of their American rivals at Whistling Straits in 2021.
Fitzpatrick, a member of that team and the similarly defeated 2016 roster, is yet to win a singles match at the biennial tournament but would touch down in Rome a far more accomplished player should he be selected.
“I’d really like to be one of the top players that week and play really well,” he said.
“I’m just excited for that opportunity and I think that’s what’s really important is to first make the team, and then look forward to it, enjoy it, and go out there and try to win some points for Europe.”
His other main aim for 2023 is to add another major to his trophy cabinet, no easy feat with the caliber of names chasing the same goal.
A tied-10th finish at The Masters signaled a strong start to the major season for the Englishman, who finished eight strokes adrift of dominant winner Jon Rahm.
The Spaniard’s second major title consolidated his reputation alongside Scottie Scheffler and Rory McIlroy in the so-called ‘big-three’ atop the rankings. Yet Fitzpatrick – dubbed the hardest-working golfer on the PGA Tour – has no intention of accepting his place in the food chain.
“I don’t wanna just sit back and be like, ‘They’re all too good for me and I’m just happy with where I am.’ That’s not me as a person,” Fitzpatrick said.
“I’m constantly looking at ways to improve and get better, and that’s what’s really important is to keep pushing myself and try and catch them up.”
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Rory McIlroy became the first golfer to lift the FedEx Cup three times after completing a sensational comeback victory at the PGA Tour Championship on Sunday.
Having arrived at Atlanta’s East Lake Golf Club six shots behind top seed Scottie Scheffler, the Northern Irishman trailed by the same margin heading into the deciding day. Yet as World No. 1 Scheffler suffered a joint-round worst three-over 73, McIlroy carded a 66 to edge the American and South Korean Im Sung-jae by a single stroke at 21-under.
It marked the largest final-round comeback in Tour Championship history, besting Colombian Camilo Villegas’ five-shot recovery in 2008. Only Justin Thomas and Sam Burns overturned larger deficits on the Tour all season, winning from seven shots back at the PGA Championship and the Charles Schwab Challenge respectively.
After FedEx Cup victories in 2016 and 2019, triumph at East Lake sees McIlroy edge clear of Tiger Woods – winner of the inaugural event in 2007 – as the only player to have secured the title three times.
“It’s really cool to do something in golf that no one has ever done before,” McIlroy told reporters.
“Obviously, the history of the FedEx Cup isn’t as long as the history of some other tournaments, but to be walking out of here three times a champion, it’s very, very satisfying and something that I’m incredibly proud of.”
McIlroy was rewarded with $18 million in prize money for his 22nd PGA Tour victory, ensuring a triumphant end to a stellar season tinged with major disappointment.
With wins at the CJ Cup and the Canadian Open, the 33-year-old consistently impressed with 10 top-10 results across 16 events. Nowhere was this form more evident than at the majors, where McIlroy finished no worse than eighth across the four events.
Yet having finished runner-up at the Masters in April and agonizingly letting victory slip through his grasp at the 150th Open Championship in July, McIlroy’s superb form did not reap the fifth major triumph he has been chasing since victory at the PGA Championship in 2014.
With McIlroy comparing the campaign to 2019, where he also recorded three Tour wins, caddy Harry Diamond believed it was a fitting end to the season.
“On the 18th green today, [Harry] goes, ‘All the good golf you played this year, you deserve this,’” McIlroy said.
“I’ve said all along this year, this season felt very, very similar to 2019. I played great golf. I had some good wins but didn’t pick off a major.”
For Scheffler, narrow defeat marked a painful end to a phenomenal season in which triumph at the Masters headlined four wins and 11 top-10 finishes on the Tour.
Opening with a 65 and two 66’s, the American’s triumph had looked set to be a procession before three bogeys through the first six holes Sunday opened the door for McIlroy, who – despite opening with a bogey – responded with a trio of birdies through the same run.
A superb birdie putt from McIlroy at the 15th followed by a bogey from Scheffler at the subsequent hole proved decisive, as the Northern Irishman tapped home at the last to win with par. After a brief celebratory fist pump, McIlroy went straight over to embrace Scheffler.
“Scottie Scheffler is going to win the Player of the Year, there’s no doubt about that. It would have been fitting for him to end his breakout season with a FedEx Cup title,” McIlroy said.
“He deserves this maybe more than I deserve it, he played an unbelievable season. He didn’t have his best stuff today, and I played well and took advantage of that.
“It’s hard. You don’t really know what to say on the 18th green because he’s had such a great year, but he’ll be back and he’s a great player, and I told him this certainly isn’t the last time that we’re going to have these battles on the golf course.”
Despite his disappointment, Scheffler was similarly gracious in defeat.
“I really fought hard today. Rory just played a really good round of golf. He made some key putts there at the end, and he definitely deserved to win,” he said.
“I’ve had a really great year and I wanted to finish it off with a win here, and unfortunately, I wasn’t able to do that. But at the end of the day, it’s such a gift to be out here playing golf for money, and I’m just so thankful to be out here.”
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“I am 41 years old. I have played more than 1500 matches over 24 years. Tennis has treated me more generously than I ever would have dreamt, and now I must recognize when it is time to end my competitive career,” the 20-time grand slam winner said in an Instagram post.
The last few years of Federer’s career have been marred by a series of injuries, as he underwent two knee surgeries in 2020 and another after he was defeated by Hubert Hurkacz in the 2021 Wimbledon quarterfinal.
“As many of you know, the past three years have presented me with challenges in the form of injuries and surgeries,” he said. “I’ve worked hard to return to full competitive form. But I also know my body’s capacities and limits, and its message to me lately has been clear.”
Federer’s long career coincided with those of 22-time grand slam winner Rafael Nadal and 21-time grand slam winner Novak Djokovic, with whom he dominated men’s tennis for the last two decades.
“I would also like to thank my competitors on the court,” Federer said.
“I was lucky enough to play so many epic matches that I will never forget. We battled fairly, with passion and intensity, and I always tried my best to respect the history of the game. I feel extremely grateful.”
Despite playing alongside two of the greatest players of all time, Federer has still broken multiple records, including becoming the oldest ever world No. 1 at age 36 and remaining at the top of the rankings for a record 237 consecutive weeks.
“This is a bittersweet decision, because I will miss everything the tour has given me,” he said. “But at the same time, there is so much to celebrate. I consider myself one of the most fortunate people on Earth. I was given a special talent to play tennis, and I did it a level that I never imagined, for much longer than I ever thought possible.”
More to follow…
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